40 



BOTANICAL GAZETTE 



[JANUA RY 



6 days and then left in the germinator 95 days at 25 C. Seeds 

 similarly treated, except that they were exposed only 2 clays, gave 

 less marked catalase activity. The point to be noted in table VI 

 is the increased activity which was given by seeds treated with the 

 larger amounts of ether. Of added interest is the fact that there 



TABLE V 



Catalase activity of seeds treated 95 days with HgCl 2 solutions and 



PERCENTAGE OF GERMINATION AFTER 6 MONTHS 



Concentration of HgCL used 



N/800 



N/1600 



N/3200 



N/6400 



N/12800 



N/25600 



N/51200 



N/102400. . . . 

 Water (check) 



Oxygen in cc. liberated during 



o.5 

 1.6 



i-3 

 2-5 

 3-o 

 3-o 

 3-2 

 2.9 

 2.8 



5 min. 



•3 

 .0 



. 1 



•5 

 .0 



•5 

 .0 



•5 

 ■5 



2.9 

 3-4 

 3-9 

 4.0 

 4.6 

 5-o 

 5-9 

 6.2 



6.0 



TABLE VI 



Effect of ether on catalase activity of juniper seeds kept at 25 C. 



was no germination. It is suggested, therefore, that one may have 

 an enormous increase of catalase activity without a corresponding 

 after- ripening of the dormant embryo. 



To study the effect of oxygen, seeds were sterilized and exposed 

 to air containing the following percentages of oxygen. Table VII 

 gives the catalase activity for seeds at the end of 45 days. With 

 the higher percentage of oxygen there was an increase of catalase 



